Our Donation Box Is Full Of Bombs
by literalspoon
Summary: It's summer, and you know what summer means... Time to save the world! Again! One horrifying bag of spiders, firearms, and doomsday devices at a time. (A meandering fic on the subject of charity shops, love, whatever Otogi is plotting, and of course saving the world. Because obviously. Rated for questionable donations.)
1. In Which a Furby Swears

_I shouldn't be here. It's too... too... _

Cheerful, he supposed. Yes, the Graceful Charity Op Shop was a _cheerful_ sort of thing. Actually, make that cheerful and _loud. _Cheerful, loud, and situated right across the freaking road from the wreck of the Black Clown. But never mind the last one.

Otogi stood in the doorway a while, letting his eyes adjust. It wasn't anything dramatic, he reassured himself - no angsting here. Not now. The colours in this place were just somewhere beyond loud, tending right into _violent _territory. See, someone had painted it a rather optimistic shade of lemon on the inside and outside, with cyan carpet and shelving, which didn't do any of the framed prints they were trying to sell any favours. In keeping with the color scheme, a blue cage had been placed just outside the door, rather helpfully labelled: PLEASE DON'T GIVE US MORE DONATIONS, WE HAVE ENOUGH. Rude. Yellow banners flapped violently out the front, one of which had fallen over and was rolling back and forth on the road. Noisy, just to add to all the loud. And not Otogi's job to pick it up, though he had to wonder when the lone staff member planned to retrieve it.

Blue, yellow, blue, yellow. Everywhere he looked, there was yellow and blue - mugs, boxes, whatever the volunteers could find, piled onto otherwise ordinary bits of furniture. And they had a lot of furniture, with four and three and two-and-a-half legs; actually, they just had a lot of _stuff._ The place was surely a warehouse at some point in its life, flogging everything from novelty mugs to books to chairs with suspicious stains. Everything covered in blue and yellow, of course. Definitely not the colours he would have picked, but then again, it wasn't Otogi's place to decide - not his shop. Not that he had _any _shop. His shop didn't particularly resemble a shop anymore.

_Stop that. Stop that, now._

It had been enough time, surely. He could get past this, and on with what he needed to do here. He would get past this. After all, he already had his back turned to what was outside. And he also wasn't thinking about that, he was moving right along.

Otogi did a quick circuit of the place; not too fast, not too slow. It was a big place, so there was plenty to to be uncovered, plenty to distract; the best places to be alone, the best blind spots in the cameras, and to make himself look slightly less suspicious, the best _bargains_. The phones that they thought were broken, but could be fixed in a couple of hours with a good computer and a USB cable. An old-timey film camera in an eighty-dollar bag, snuggled on a shelf behind the counter - that might be worth looking twice at, if they still had the film to go with it. Maybe they had some ancient, out-of-print volume lurking on those shelves. And the books weren't so close to the staff, and perhaps offered a better view of what he was here for.

Yes. He'd just go over there, and check for the security cameras. Easy enough to do, right? Read some book, perhaps some dull-yet-relevant number on cryptocurrency or cryptids or just anything with crypt in the name, then glance up at the most opportune moments. Pose in a way that was definitely very fashionable, but not too _spyish._ Get the numbers of the cameras quickly, get the blind spots, get out with nobody any the wiser. A perfect-

He was caught up in his own imaginings, and didn't even realize it until right about now - when his foot caught on a delightful pea-green number. Quite a substantial couch, one of those big heavy winged-backs that could probably crush him. It creaked a very subtle threat as it teetered- not quite going over, not quite alerting the solo staff member to Otogi. Above him, he could see that the lone camera was turned away - nobody would even know, so long as he was careful. So he just smiled, and backed away, letting the couch settle back into its position while he- oh.

Oh, _shit._

There was a table here, with... two legs? A vase? Or was it a jug? He couldn't really see, given it was mostly behind him and totally being knocked over. And knocking everything else over while it was at it, from the sound of that! And- that sounded like something breaking, actually a _lot _breaking. Otogi wasn't going to be responsible for that! Or that! Or any of that!

As he stood there, trying to decide on the best possible excuse to escape everything, in came Mr. Solo the staff member, brandishing one of the banners from outside like it was some kind of spear. "Hey! What's going on?"

_What do you think's going on?_ Otogi almost said it out loud, but he had bigger problems, like potentially getting killed by a falling adorable pink sewing cabinet (with little hearts all over it, because of course). Like a bull trying to escape a junk sale that consisted mostly of teacups, vases, and deadly pieces of furniture, he vaulted the nearest convenient dresser, upsetting it thoroughly in the process, and sprinted in the first available 'away' direction from the ongoing domino effect. Everything was smashing into everything else behind him and _breaking _ as well, and frankly he wanted no responsibility in the matter. "Help! Earthquake!" he yelled, for the sake of having some excuse not to pay anyone any money.

"I'll save you!" The veritable giant rushed across the shop, and then he- tossed the banner at the trainwreck? Just what did he think that was going to accomplish- Otogi threw himself to the ground, and the heavy metal pole the banner was attached to blew right past his head, sinking into a sideboard with a great _thunk. _Why people with giant muscles always had to be so physical and not just _get out of of the way, _Otogi had no idea. Still, at least the thing was no longer about to fall on top of him, so he supposed he should be grateful.

"Hey! Not so close!" he shrieked. Very grateful.

"Sorry!" the guy yelled, like that was going to help at all, and rushed past Otogi to do battle with a bookshelf. Bizarrely, he seemed to be _winning_. What was it with overly physical people being overly... physical? "Wow, what a quake! I haven't seen one like that since... last week!"

_Maybe if half the furniture didn't have three legs_, Otogi's brain began, but like hell was he going to say any of that little rant to a man who could probably snap him in half without even trying. Besides, it seemed he might actually get away with it, if he just kept his mouth shut. Otogi wasn't one for stereotypes, of course he wasn't, he would _never _\- but this guy, with his bulging muscles, tiny apron that didn't leave much to the imagination, and hippie ponytail certainly appeared to be a complete idiot. It wasn't a stereotype if it was all true, right?

Anyway, it would look less suspicious if he remained casual. If it had really just been an earthquake, it wasn't like he'd do anything differently now it was over. And he still had more to do here - more to see, more places to note down, more blind spots to count. If he backed out now, he'd just have to do it all over again later.

"It certainly was an earthquake," Otogi repeated, a little out of breath now, and continued his path around the shop. The bookshelves were out of the question, since the giant was wrestling the most mundane of things in that area, so he instead completed his circuit with a brief inspection of the toys. They were tucked up in a back corner near the staff-room's door, like some kind of secret play stash, but oh- disappointments aplenty! A veritable _smorgsaboard _of absolute disappointment! Not a trading card in sight, and the complexity of the board games didn't seem to get beyond Snakes and Ladders. Some cards, but like... _actual playing cards_. Things that had liquids of unknown origin all over them, some strange things in test tubes (aliens? Were they meant to be aliens?), a foul-smelling tub marked only 'SLIMES' and some incredibly uncanny toys known as 'MINIONS'. Oh, and several plastic torture instruments to rival the sort of things Yami Marik liked to play with.

All in all: Yikes.

_Jeez, is there anything even worth buying in this shop?_ Otogi wondered - and chose to ignore his own rebuttal. Why yes, he was indeed headed for the changerooms with a handful of clothing. Probably wouldn't fit him, anyway. He was only giving it a chance because it just... looked like the sort of style he wouldn't mind wearing. Even if it didn't _quite _fit him and totally wasn't worth buying, he would probably go through with it - that was thrift shops for you. That and of course, he might be able to get some sort of camera viewing opportunity from the changerooms; one never knew, but since he'd lost his opportunity with the bookshelves, it'd be nice to find out from this vantage point instead.

Still, Otogi hesitated before he went inside, just in case someone was coming after him about the furniture incident. It wouldn't do at all to get yelled at the with his pants literally down. And... nothing. Nope. Well, good thing the only other person here seemed to be that enormous man. Someone with more brain cells might have actually noticed what had happened, or at least asked Otogi about it, instead of blaming it all on an earthquake he couldn't have felt. That kind of blind following could be useful in the future, come to think of it; Otogi made a mental note. Who knew, maybe the guy could be somewhat useful in his plans.

Anyway, no threats, so into the changerooms he went. Hello, privacy- oh! Hello, illegal camera placement. He squinted at the black box, and watched his reflection squint back. Yep, definitely illegal camera placement. The sort of thing he'd have been more concerned by once upon a pre-Domino City time, but he currently lived in a world where people tried to destroy it all on the daily. A few badly placed cameras in the Graceful Charity really weren't the worst thing. Curious, of course, it'd be rather nice to know whose fault it was, but - well, couldn't be helped right now.

Still, not something he wanted framed on some little old lady's desk. (Or anyone's desk, really, but the typical managers of these places _were _usually little old ladies, at least in Otogi's experience. Best to avoid the outcome, in any case.) A different stall offered a better view, or rather a lack of one; the top of the metal rail just blocked the camera's lens, so hopefully that would be enough. Time to try on- some - uh- what was he holding, anyway? A two-piece leather outfit; very nice. Some sort of jacket-like top, and long flared pants. Otogi tugged off his pants, then his rather-fashionable-but-also-a-bit-chilly sleeveless vest and pulled on something that- okay, so it looked a bit like a jacket, but it was far too tight and short in the sleeves. Darn it. And - wait, was this Yugi's-?

He checked the label. _Ew, no. _

Those pants that were supposed to go with it wouldn't fit either, then. With some difficulty, Otogi stuck his arm out from behind the curtain, placing the... _yacket_ and _yants _(yugi-jacket and yugi-pants) on a convenient rack in front of the changeroom. Time to stop playing around; he'd gotten about as much information as he could about the cameras here. Now, he just needed to sign up for a position here, and figure out which days-

"Hey! You! Can I help you?!"

Yes, with all the punctuation. _All _of it. Otogi jumped, partly because the big loud staff guy (?) was being very loud, and mostly because he didn't have any pants on. It was a bit difficult not to be surprised when one didn't have any pants. He immediately tried to rectify the situation, and succeeded in getting his right foot through his left pant leg. _Nice going! This is why your shop burned down! "_Uh, no? I was just," tug, tug, "trying on something, and it was a bit small, so I put it back on the rack."

"I noticed," said the big loud staff guy (?). That was _way_ too much enthusiasm and pride, right there. No thank you. Otogi made a mental note to avoid ending up on the same day as this guy. Maybe even the same planet, if possible. "That's completely okay! I have a bigger butt than I think I do too, haha! Well, it looks bigger in some things. Yours is big enough to knock all that stuff down, though! Okay, but seriously, d'ya want another size?"

The inane comment rang from every blue-painted wall of the Graceful Charity Op Shop- and _he knows, he knows! _He was going to have to pay for all this shit! Otogi's hands shook as he tried to get his pants back on, fiddling futilely with his fly. His chest felt tight; words weren't really quite working. Somehow, he'd been caught out after all. Somehow, all his amazing plans had come to - just because he'd tripped- "Look, I... ah... "

No. No, it couldn't end here. Otogi's donning of pants was swift, and his sprint across the shop even swifter; The giant standing before the changerooms could _definitely _wait, perhaps a few eons. Perhaps, if he was lucky, Otogi would never have to talk to him ever again. He instead went straight for the first vaguely uniformed individual he knew; the sooner he could get out of here and onto a potential shift with Jounouchi, the better.

A blue apron and a blue cart emerged from the staff room with a real creak. Otogi just about _flew_ at them, sensing a weird urgency all of a sudden: "Hey I just wanted to volunteer at your shop and I was wondering if-"

"_SIR!_ YOU FORGOT YOUR BELTS!"

And immediately regretted it. Seto Kaiba was already not a very forgiving person, but the lack of belt was at least a -10 to Otogi's reputation, and the delicate blue apron had to be at _least _a-15 to Kaiba's patience. Possibly a -150, combined with the dinky little plastic blue tub-on-wheels, stocked with children's toys (and again, sadly: no children's card games). Otogi tried to hold up his pants, with limited success - they really did need a belt or three to stay on, and on top of that Kaiba was moving, backing him towards the toy section. "Uh. I didn't think I'd see you here?"

Kaiba didn't seem to dignify this with a response, so they just sort of stared at each other. Or at least, Otogi stared. Kaiba wasn't looking _at _Otogi, but instead at a point far above and behind his head. And yet he'd definitely noticed what was in front of him, since his expression was of the sort Otogi had thought had been left in the Triassic period, when everything looked like it was going to eat you _and _had just eaten an entire lemon as the entree. Maybe several lemons, with chilli sprinkled liberally on top; his face did look pretty dire. The CEO's hands clutched at the little blue cart with the kind of force usually reserved for choking things; his knuckles were a lovely shade of yellow. Maybe Otogi's knuckles were yellow as well; he was definitely doing all he could to keep his pants up.

As they reached the nearest convenient shelf of toys, and Otogi wondered whether he should just run for the door, the big annoyance of a guy who had been shouting about the belts ran up to them. He was panting, or at least flexing a great deal (that apron was far too small, in Otogi's opinion!), but the smile on his face was nothing short of _proud. _ "Ha! Good thing I realized! That could have been _super bad!_"

Kaiba said nothing - good on him for picking his battles - but he did flinch on the phrase _super bad_. Otogi flinched too, but it was more because his belts now smelled fishy - as in, of fish. Which was also pretty fishy, in the suspicious sense of the term. "So... what are you doing here?" he asked, as casually as one could whilst trying to get their belt back on. Anything to keep Kaiba from asking _'what happened to all the furniture'_ in front of the big guy, who apparently knew the truth. "This isn't over that staff fee thing, is it?"

"What do you think I'm doing?" Kaiba made a gesture that sort of resembled someone scooping out someone else's brains and putting them on a higher shelf. It was a vehement enough gesture to cause a Furby to drop unceremoniously into Kaiba's cart, and begin its normal programming of copious swearing. Eyeing it, Otogi had to wonder if the thing was even supposed to be in the store - surely a store with a name like Graceful Charity was entirely PG? Never mind what kind of past life the Furby might have had to have caused such language. Perhaps the thing had at some point in its miserable existence belonged to Bandit Keith?

To his credit, the (discredited?) CEO completely ignored the item; even kept up enough angry staring to keep Otogi from outright laughing at him. "Exactly, you can't even comprehend what I'm doing. I'm _visually merchandising the shelf stock. _And if _Kajiki _knew what was good for him, he would be _minding the cart _and _not bothering me _with his _pathetic bleating._"

So many italics, each one dripping with sarcasm and a kind of burning, like salt in one's eyes but entirely verbal. Definitely hiding something! The big guy - Kajiki, Otogi assumed - just grinned like an utter idiot and stood there. "Aw, well, the cart's empty. Nothing coming in. Not since you put that sign on it." He seemed to be waiting for something. Maybe it was the re-donning of the belts? Some kind of admission from Otogi of what he'd done?

Well, he certainly wasn't about to get the latter. Just keep distracting Kaiba, and eventually he'd get that job. "I didn't think you were particularly charitable," Otogi smirked. (At least, as well as one could while trying to put one's belts back on.) "Last I checked, most of Kaiba Corp's profits went into 'management'. Sooooo, about that teensy weensey staff pay scanda-"

Kaiba's stare immediately intensified. Otogi didn't think it _could, _but somehow he managed to go from 'eating a lemon' to 'crushing several bear shaped lemons that were also bears with his bare hands and stuffing them into his mouth' in terms of raw threat and malice level. Now, this- _this_ was the sort of stare that ended in people getting shot. "You keep out of this, Otogi!"

(The Furby said a few words Otogi wasn't even sure should exist in print form - which did take the edge off things, but not by much.)

"Aw! You know each other?" Kajiki leaned hard into the shelf, almost upsetting it. This did finally get Otogi to step back; Kaiba, in a vain show of pride, did not budge. "And did I hear you say you wanted to work here? As a volunteer? Another game shop CEO working here, like, what are the chances? Man, I can't wait to tell the manager about the belts. I've never seen that before!"

_Yes, volunteering! Good. _Otogi smiled, and hoped it wasn't overly forced. "Please don't tell _anyone_ about the... 'belts'. I'd be happy to bribe you on it."

Some silence, some more staring, then Kaiba frowned and turned away. It probably would have been a rather majestic pause for thought, had the Furby not been swearing throughout. "No, Kajiki, do tell them about the belts. Tell them all. Tell every last customer that walks through the door. And then _don't let him work here._ Because he's-" He stopped, his eyes narrowing as he finally took in the great furniture display. Then, he looked at Otogi. Then back to the- but oh so luckily, Kajiki was talking again.

"Hey, I'm not the manager." The big guy must have been a bit stubborn, or... no, stubborn was a Jounouchi quality and despite his slight obsession with the guy, Otogi was not about to start seeing Jounouchis everywhere. Kajiki was just dumb, he supposed. A bit like Jounouchi. But also not at all like him. And not stereotypically dumb, either - just a big dumb muscular guy who happened to fit a stereotype perfectly.

_Do be quiet_ _, me. _

Anyway, Kajiki was babbling again. Saving his skin, all things considered. "See, the managers get to do the deciding, so you shouldn't be asking me. That's what I'm saying."

"And now you're being stubborn-!" Kaiba whirled about, almost tripping over his own cart - then most definitely tripping over his own cart and going face-down in whatever lay within. Soft things, going off the dulled _thump_. He swore, and the Furby swore right back, and soon they were outright screaming at each other. The only reason the toy wasn't taking a boot to the face was probably that Kaiba wasn't wearing boots; curiously, he'd gone for sneakers. Some sort of rule, maybe, but then again - Kaiba following any rule was kind of an impossibility. Maybe there was a rule _against _wearing sneakers, that'd almost make more sense. _"Shut up!" _

Kajiki shrugged, like he'd heard this a thousand times. Given he was supposed to work with Kaiba, he probably had. Water off a duck's back. "C'mon, let's just go ask the manager already."

He was already walking, and when Otogi didn't move, he returned to try and tug the new volunteer away from Kaiba. Otogi couldn't resist a quick dig, though. Just one, little quick thing. He'd always enjoyed it when others got to do it, so why not? "Oh, you don't want to work with me? I'm so _wounded_. Actually, no, no I'm not. I'm here for someone in particular, and I can't see them on _your _shift." All of which was true, of course - it just happened to sound like a wonderful insult in this particular moment.

"Why... why, you..." Kaiba emitted a real proper animal noise, the sort usually reserved for large predatory animals of the Triassic period. Or possibly bears shaped like lemons. Otogi's brain had a fairly limited imagination when it came to the guy, he really did seem to be just... massively angry and not a whole lot else. A wounded animal, maybe? A caged one? One of those really nasty raccoons with all the diseases. Maybe with bear traps for hands. Terrifying, but harmless for as long as he was stuck in this charity shop job. Probably lethal out in the wild, though. Or, you know, at school. "I'll outdo you! Whatever displays you come up with, I'll beat you over the head with them! My KPI is TWO HUNDRED PERCENT every shift!"

Otogi waved back as Kajiki just about dragged him towards the back of the shop. He hoped his grin was at least a little bit infuriating. "Have fun playing with dolls!"

* * *

A/N: First story in a long time. I'm rather rusty and most nervous in posting, so please be patient, please be gentle, all that sort of thing.

Anything to do with the mechanics of op/thrift/charity shops is based on my own experience, and I'm aware no two groups run their shops the same way. Things may be very different in other parts of the world~

Oh, and there will be shipping. I adore my little rare ot3, and I'm interested to explore it. This is a very slow pace, though! I will be trying to update this a few chapters at a time rather than one at a time, as I'm very aware the fic is slow going.


	2. In Which the Manager Appears

It was cold, cold enough to regret not wearing sleeves (he could really do with a jacket), and Otogi's breath misted in the feeble light. He imagined it dripped down the sign of his shop - had to imagine it, because the sign wasn't really there anymore.

Or... it _was _there, somewhere in the twisted wreck, and he just wasn't seeing it. He scanned the pile again, and again, and - wait, so was it there? Was it not there? Was it both at the same time?

Was this what his life had come down to? _Schrödinger's sign?_

Didn't matter. He stopped looking, and shivered for a while instead. Man, was it cold.

But it was okay. He'd just forgotten the pride and joy of his life, and now, here it was. He hadn't meant to find it, but now the Black Clown lay quite literally at Otogi's feet; not exactly prostrating, but something like it. Languishing, he supposed. Here at some point, then forgotten, now here again, and he was going to forget all about it. Schrödinger's forgotten sign.

... But that was an impossibility, wasn't it? Not thinking about such things could only make him think about the things, and eventually they were going to make his mind up for him. Maybe they already had. Actually- yes, yes they had.

He turned and walked across the road, towards the yellow banner that lay, lifeless, just waiting to be hit by passing traffic.

He could sympathize with that.

* * *

"So, how did you get here? You look like the type to have a car."

An interesting question. Was he trying to... was it somehow about the furniture? Otogi squinted, trying to figure out how he should handle this mess. Come clean? No, not an option. Lying? Definitely an option, but that option had options. Stay off the topic he didn't want to get into, and therefore on Kajiki's topic? Possible. "I walked," he ventured after a moment, and watched carefully for a reaction.

Kajiki was, apparently, not one for showing subtle expressions. With a wide smile, he shoved Otogi into the fishy-smelling back-room, which was only acceptable at all because Kajiki was so much bigger than him, and as such his striding was much faster than Otogi's efforts. It was either get shoved, or get stepped on. "Ah, so you're one of those climate hating naturalists types! Me too, me too. But I mean, I was just asking because you probably don't want to go back that way now you've gone and said that stuff to Kaiba? Seriously, those hitmen and all. Though they're pretty good for... you know, hitting? I guess?"

_Hitmen: good for hitting. _If that wasn't a Jounouchi-ism, Otogi didn't know what was. Maybe this guy was some sort of long lost, definitely adopted cousin? He had the whole idiot routine down, just with more muscle to back it up. Kind of a Jounouchi 2.0, but then that would be admitting that Kajiki was an improvement, which he certainly wasn't. "He won't mess with me," Otogi grinned, and tossed his hair a bit just to prove the point. Yes, he did have very unmessable hair. "I'm pretty much... Well, you could say _immune_. See, he's not going to hurt a friend of Yugi's."

(Or, at least, someone who hung around Yugi a lot. And been there to watch all his triumphs, including that one time at his own expense. And had accidentally slept in his bed at least once on that stupid airship. On top of him. Shirtless. Sleepwalking, definitely not a fun thing - though in his defence, everyone had done it. Otogi had always blamed the weird movements of a craft thousands of feet in the air.)

"What, Yugi-?" Understanding dawned almost immediately - because of course. Everyone knew _Yugi Mutou_, who was effectively the coolest kid in the school without actually fulfilling any requirements for the cool part. The guy everyone knew, whether they liked it or not, wanted to or not. Whether Otogi liked it or not, come to think of it - he was just about chained to the little king's side.

"Yes. Yugi." Whoops. Had that come out just a little too scornful? A little too rude?

No, Kajiki's eyes were as wide as those ugly two-dollar dinner plates Otogi had accidentally smashed back there. "Yugi? As in _the_ Yugi?!" The big guy puffed out his chest, drawing himself up to quite the towering height. It was probably meant to be more pride and less intimidation, but it almost made Otogi want to reach for a weapon. There was just something about someone so obviously capable of murdering him right here... doing that. Something about the muscles, maybe. Lots of aggressive flexery under the ill-fitting apron and even worse-fitting white cotton singlet, however unintentional it might have been. "I actually lost once to him. I know, that sounds totally unbelievable, right, but I lost to _the_ Yugi."

"_The_ Yugi?" Otogi asked. It came out a lot fainter than he intended, but he couldn't help sounding stunned when he actually sort of was. _The Yugi? That's a thing now? And people seriously boast about... Oh, when will it end?_

"THE Yugi!" Kajiki laughed; it rang all around the room. One of those audio-controlled toy dogs actually started scrambling across the big table reserved for donations of all kinds, emitting the sorts of noises Otogi felt belonged firmly in the 'cat' category. "I mean, what else can you call him, right?! You say THE Yugi, and everyone totally knows. You say Yugi, and it's like, oh, but I know another Yugi. But THE Yugi? It can only be THE Yugi..." He scratched his head. "Made sense when I was thinking it, I swear. He totally whooped me. Anyway, so - let's get you signed up..." And without waiting for an answer, Kajiki strode over to the aging, battered filing cabinet. He started to go through various drawers - the ones he could actually drag open, anyway. Soon, the floor was littered with forms apparently intended for the police, and blue-and-yellow brochures labelled with cheerful titles such as _HOW TO SAFELY DISPOSE OF NEEDLES _and _POISONOUS SPIDER IDENTIFICATION GUIDE_.

"Volunteer form... volunteer form... let's see... It's been a long while since anyone signed up here! Under me, anyway. Gee, wonder if we have any forms left?"

In the interests of not scaring himself silly via brochure titles before Kajiki could even start explaining the job, Otogi let his gaze trail around the backroom. Anywhere but the cabinet would do, really. There was the table covered in donations, some cages full of clothes, a toy dog now kicking and meowing on the floor, and a kitchen off to the side (or at least a closed door marked KITCHEN). No people besides himself and Kajiki, certainly no manager. The most notable thing in the room was the grubby screen, split into four quarters; four views of the shop. The cameras cycled every few seconds, showing views of the staff room at times, but never whatever room laid behind the door marked KITCHEN.

Over on the donations table, Otogi thought he spied a white oval coffee-table's top, but couldn't be totally sure about that one. The brown stains made him think coffee, though.

_No wait, that hole..._ it wasn't a coffee-table's top at all, but a...?

Otogi swallowed. "Kajiki. Is that a toilet seat?"

Kajiki looked up, like this was the most normal thing in the world, and honestly Otogi asking this question was just a little bit silly. He even did that stupid thing Jounouchi did sometimes, scratching at the back of his neck. As though sensible questions made him _itchy-! _"Yeah. Donated this morning. Okay, so you wanted to work with..."

Anything to get off the topic of toilet seat donations. Used toilet seat donations. That he might have to deal with in the future. "Katsuya Jounouchi?"

"Hey! HE whooped me too! But in a good way!" Kajiki grinned. So he did know these guys, or maybe was just horrendous when it came to boasting. Otogi would ask more, but figured that with someone like Kajiki, it'd probably all get told at some point in the next few seconds. Sure enough: "Did you know, I actually kinda gave up on Duel Monsters after that? I just can't compete with guys that tough. Man, if you know both of 'em you must be _REALLY_ good, though. And Kaiba, too? Wow, you really just know all the good players."

Otogi smirked. All the good players... Perhaps, but he was still the best at his own game. Besides that one incident. "I guess so. I mean, I used to run a game shop."

"_Did _you?!" Instant excitement from Kajiki, instant regret in Otogi's mind. Oh, that was definitely not something he should have mentioned, though then again, better he mention it first than Kaiba. He did want to work here, after all - _without _any horrible rumours drawing attention to him. That would only make things harder."Man, was it like... Duel Monsters? Was it? Wait, what happened to it?!"

_Nothing I wanna talk about, thanks very much! _His fault for bringing the topic up, though; now he would have to make it disappear. Speaking of which - Otogi looked about again, just in case the manager had suddenly appeared. They had not, so he was obliged to ask: "Uh, where's the manager again-?"

"Oh, just behind you."

And at the moment Kajiki said that, Otogi felt warm on the back of his neck. He whirled around, topping his chair, and came face to face with a- nothing. _What the-? _He'd surely be in full fight-or-flight mode, if not for the guy's uproarious laughter. _"Kajiki!_ That's not funny!"

"Oh wow, you startle! That can't be so good for your card game skills. Personally, I'm ready for anything!" Turning back, Otogi found his new co-worker sporting quite the shit-eating grin, leaning back in the most punchable way he'd seen since Jounouchi had gone and done some similar pose. _This freaking guy... _"Nah, but really! You have to be really careful, he's really quiet and likes to stand right behind you sometimes. I've trodden on him before and stuff." Kajiki pointed over to the kitchen door behind Otogi, those massive shoulders still shaking with laughter. "Now, see, technically he's behind you. He's just on lunch break at the moment."

"I am? But I just got off-"

It was officially Kajiki's turn to fall out of his chair, scrambling about for some sort of weapon he didn't currently have. _"Jesus!"_ he exclaimed, and then said some other things not worth putting down on paper. Mostly concerning sea life, which was a bit odd, but whatever floated his boat.

Otogi blinked, for his part, and did his best to look like a neutral employee of a respectable shop that definitely didn't sell toilet seats and meowing identity-confused dogs. He also did his best not to make any sudden movements, just in case. Kajiki might think he had startled, but the guy standing over him was the prince of startling. Or at least, the sort of startling that usually ended with multiple suspicious disappearances, if what Otogi had heard was at all correct. "Ah, hello. I... didn't know you worked here?" He adjusted his headband, and tried to find some sort of comfort in the newcomer's features. In comfort, there was safety. Usually. "Or... are you..."

Bakura blinked back at him. Clearly uncomfortable, but then again, he always was. Otogi was pretty sure if _he _was Bakura, he'd be awfully uncomfortable as well. Being Bakura had to be a very uncomfortable thing, just generally. "...Are you okay, Kajiki?"

"Whoa! You know _him_ as well?!" Kajiki squawked. Bakura tried to help him up off the floor, but the guy hardly needed it; he was already halfway to standing, bracing himself on the donations table. Otogi automatically grabbed onto the other side of the table, so no more furniture would be upended today. "Just wow. How many good duelists do you even know? Me, I'm pretty good, and Yugi, and Jounouchi, and Kaiba, and _now you're telling me... _Oh! Yeah! I'm fine. Hey, Otogi wanted to work here. You good with that?"

Blink, blink. Bakura could really hold silences, and it never felt like he meant to. He just seemed to space out at fairly inopportune moments, such as_ right now_. And it just got Otogi's brain racing in all kinds of extremely unfortunate directions. For instance: Was he going to have to touch that toilet seat at some point? Did Bakura remember any of what he'd done when the game shop had burned down? Was Bakura really the manager, or was he just assuming because Kajiki had mentioned it? Did that mean Bakura had owned some sort of business or... done something else that somehow qualified him to be a manager? Just how much _did _Otogi know about the guy? For the love of all things not Slifer, Obelisk, or Ra, would that dog toy ever shut up?

The white-haired teen coughed, and in doing so seemed to remember he should be doing something, like answering. "...Oh, sure. Yep." And picking up the demonic meowing dog, Bakura sat down at the donations table himself, sorting through a pile of tags. He seemed to be rather careful to keep his stare off Otogi; he must be feeling awkward beyond awkward. Otogi would have said something helpful about that, but it'd only have made things more awkward, so he opted to just stay quiet.

Since Bakura was hardly doing anything related to getting Otogi that volunteer position he wanted, it seemed to fall to Kajiki to fetch various forms from the filing cabinet. Which he did - and promptly left, muttering something about the furniture. A bit of a relief, considering the whole fishy smell he had going; it was getting a bit strong in the backroom.

Only then did Bakura shake his head, apparently remembering something or other. Going off his facial expression, Otogi was half expecting him to explain how many had died here; it was nothing short of miserable_._ "When you've filled out everything, we can decide which shifts are yours. I hope that's all right." He smiled the saddest freaking smile Otogi had ever witnessed, sad enough that he almost wanted to ask Bakura to go back to the miserable-looking one. "Please don't miss anything..."

Seizing the pen, Otogi gave it a couple of good shakes, getting ready to sign his name with a minimum of embarrassment. He'd had quite enough embarrassment, thanks very much. "That's easy."

"It is?"

Oh yes, yes it was. Otogi smiled his most winning smile, and hoped it was careful enough. But not too manipulative. Bakura might just catch onto that, if he wasn't careful. "Yeah, I want whatever shifts Jounouchi got."

"Meow?"

If the apparently-a-manager was suspicious of this, he didn't show it. Instead, he picked up the meowing dog toy, and started looking for an off switch. Which really, he should have done about five minutes ago, but who knew what was going on in the guy's brain. "Of course, that's every Thursday. Afternoons..."

Delivered with the kind of tone usually reserved for funerals, naturally. Otogi pretended to think about this riveting piece of information, while he signed away his Thursdays in blue ink. Few other personal details were filled in, of course - no need to overcomplicate what was already rather overcomplicated. Not like he'd expected one of Jounouchi's actual friends to show up! "I had a question, actually." And despite Bakura's squirming, he did his best to make eye contact. "Do you know anything about the Black Clown? What happened to it, I mean?"

"I'm afraid I don't." Bakura's gaze went completely unwavering. Unnerving, even; he picked up a screwdriver to deal with the dog toy, and held it like a knife he was about to stab with. Clearly, this was a subject he had _feelings _about. Great. "I don't remember things. You... I thought you'd know that." He frowned a little. "I thought I told you. Did I remember that wrong, too...?"

_Oh yes, you've given me that before. Quite a few times. And between that and the fact that I think my friends are keeping secrets from me, excuse me if I don't believe your bullshit! _

But it did seem like Bakura was being honest - or was he? Sure, he was frowning, and usually Bakura only frowned when he actually meant something, but... If he couldn't be trusted to _remember_ things, could he really be trusted at all? Otogi bit his lip, thinking, deciding, and Bakura apparently decided that meant he needed to say more. "I don't remember how I got this job, you know. This manager position. I just woke up to Kajiki banging on the door and saying I was the manager now, so I've been coming here every day. It's... it's kind of scary, to be honest."

How that was relevant, Otogi had no clue. Well, maybe it was a little relevant, but it certainly wasn't the information he was mining. A waste of time, all round; time to get out of here and come back on a Thursday. Like... today. Today was a Thursday, wasn't it? So he'd be spending some time here today. With the weird fish-smelling man, and Kaiba. And completely unprepared for Jounouchi. _If it'd just been tomorrow..._

Otogi sighed, signing off on the last of the papers. "It sure seems like an important thing to just _forget_, Bakura."

A screw finally came out of the dog toy, and rolled off the table. Bakura thoroughly ignored it. "Yes! I know! I really need someone to help me figure it out-!" Such enthusiasm, and so suddenly! Bakura seemed to be on the verge of asking Otogi outright, but then he stopped and hung his head. "Well, anyway, I'm... just glad you're here. That you're listening." The papers were thumbed through; the parts Otogi had left blank were simply left alone. Typical Bakura - probably too scared to even ask for him to redo. All the better for Otogi, as much as he had to wish that Bakura hadn't been here at all. "And you really want to work here, right? You're not just worried about me?"

Otogi shrugged. "I didn't know you were the manager," he said. "I thought I'd work here because Jounouchi did, is all." True enough, maybe too true. But it was pretty useless outright lying to Bakura. He knew that from experience; Bakura might look a bit frail, but his mind was like a steel trap in reality. If he lied to Bakura's face, he'd just end up tangled in it down the line.

"I see." The dog toy finally stopped moving, and Bakura put the batteries down next to it. Like he'd just reaped a soul, say. Otogi shuddered, without really meaning to.

_What's this feeling-?_

Bakura stood then, hands immediately going into his pockets. "I guess I might as well show you the till."


	3. In Which Lying Definitely Does Not Occur

Bakura led the way out of the backroom. "I'd like to start you in the front area, if that's okay? Since Jounouchi and I generally work in the back."

"Ah. You're sure-?" Otogi glanced over his shoulder, immediately hoping that Bakura hadn't noticed. A desperate look, that one. Otogi didn't _do _desperate. "I was actually hoping we could work together. Can't you put... Kaiba in the back? Or Kajiki?"

"Well, Kaiba only works in the mornings." Bakura's gaze seemed more taken by Kaiba right now, and the small tornado of toys he had managed to summon about his person. _Thank god. _"And Kajiki is... He can't manage numbers well enough to write on the tags. Despite being a Duel Monsters player..." Bakura hummed some odd little tune, a real earwormy thing. "I'm not really sure how he manages to play, myself. He's not good with numbers - he can tell if one is bigger than another, but he's terrible with calculating actual differences. Or handling money. So I'll need you out here, on the till."

Nice try, throwing one of his own co-workers under the bus like that. But it was going to take a whole lot more than that to stop Otogi, especially when he'd gone to all the trouble of applying. (Or, you know, signing off on a bunch of things without exactly reading anything. Same thing.) "On my own? _All _on my own?" He smiled his very best smile, the sort that worked very well on the ladies. Bakura was that sort of guy, right? All gentle and such, looking to protect those as vulnerable as himself. He had to give in. "Can't Jounouchi at least help me out here? Tills are pretty scary."

Bakura frowned, and started walking again. Otogi wasn't really sure if that meant he was making much headway, but he rode out the ensuing silence. "...Oh, look at this." And passing a rack of clothes, Bakura rearranged them almost on instinct; sweeping a long dress up from floor, to hanger, to rack. It was graceful, in its own way. "Making sure the shop's really clean is top priority. I don't want you to just stand at the till, okay? So, if you see anything like this, you-"

"Okay, okay. Whatever you say." Otogi held up his hands in mock surrender. "But I'm serious, I think I'm going to need help with the till. You don't want to lose money, right? And I'm sure Jounouchi would do a great job. You trust him and all... so..." Well, that absolutely didn't sound super fishy at all!

"Don't you own a shop?" Bakura asked. Coughed. "I mean, _didn't _you..."

At least he seemed more unconvinced than outright suspicious. Otogi could continue to push his luck, then. "Hey, it's been six months. And you know, the place burned down, so not like I was exactly..." He couldn't finish that sentence, couldn't 'admit' he hadn't been that good at the till. After all, to lie to Bakura would be more or less a game over. But he _could _totally imply it, thus avoiding wounding his pride and lying to the local lie detector. "...Anyway, I'm over it."

Bakura twitched, and picked up another dress from the floor. Had he noticed the lie Otogi had left in? "We have a colour order, by the way. Lights at one end, darks at the other. See, how it goes from yellow, through to purple, then to indigo and all the blues?"

Might he have won? He'd have to wait and see; no sense in continuing to bait Bakura here. "Yeah, I get it." Looking to placate his manager as best he could, Otogi found himself a long, black number. It was a full-on ballroom gown, half of it dragging on the carpet; he thought it might have dropped from the hanger at first, but it was just _that _long. It was covered in shiny sequins, and long pieces of lace hung from the bottom as he unfurled it. "Hey. Shouldn't this be-?" He looked over towards the far wall, where between the books and the toys, a number of other long gowns languished on high wall-hooks.

"Spider!" Bakura hissed, and was quite suddenly well across the shop from Otogi. So he was scared of spiders, then? Well, that was interesting.

Then the spider dropped out of the dress it had been calling its home, landed on Otogi's shoe, and... okay, he was admittedly terrified as well. Not that he had arachnophobia, but - the spider in question was an absolute _monster _of a thing! Certainly nothing he'd seen in Japan. A goliath of a spider - easily the size of his palm, with these massive legs, and the biggest fangs Otogi had ever seen in his life. It was as shiny and black as his own designer shoes, except for its bloated abdomen, which more resembled a large and hairy tick. Definitely not a native to Domino City. And more importantly - definitely dangerous.

"Relax, Bakura!" he called out to the panicking manager. "I'm sure it's not dangerous. The bigger ones are... you know, less dangerous." He caught Kajiki's eye from across the shop, too. After all, that guy was undoubtedly the type to crush the spider. Probably Otogi's foot along with it. Otogi could only hope that he didn't choose to make use of the chair he'd been trying to fix (a victim of the earlier furniture disaster). "No! No, it's fine. We're all good."

Kajiki broke into a charge. Otogi now got to think about how many bones would break if _that _hit him, and he really didn't like those numbers. "Hey, what are you doing - stop-!"

_"Stop!"_ Bakura yelled, and Kajiki pulled up very suddenly, dropping to hands and knees to inspect the spider at length. Such a sudden approach should surely have startled the arachnid, but the spider didn't seem very keen on running. Its massive fangs, or possibly feelers, or maybe legs, were chewing/feeling/pawing at the dress Otogi was holding. It didn't seem too put out about falling out of its silky den.

Kajiki picked at his nose, which Otogi took to be a sign some sort of thinking was taking place. "Whoa... I don't think I know this one." Drawing his pointer finger very dramatically from his nose, he-

_"Don't poke it!"_

"Huh? Why not?"

Jerking back from the big guy, Otogi brought the cobweb-coated dress close to himself, praying the spider wouldn't climb on and up to his rather vulnerable hands. "It might be dangerous! Really dangerous! I mean, look at the teeth on it!" Or fangs, possibly feelers, or maybe legs. Whatever.

"You just said you were sure it _wasn't!"_ Bakura wailed. He was crouched behind the counter at this point, just his eyes showing. Trained on the spider, obviously. "I- should I call the fire department?"

"Should I punch it?!" Such protective behaviour! Otogi would have seen it as kind of sexy, if it didn't involve _punching his foot with the strength of multiple men. _Drawing himself up to his full height, Kajiki drew back his fist, and stopped, eyes going wide. "Hold on... You hear that, right?"

"Hear what?" Then Otogi became aware of a noise behind them. A weirdly nasal noise, like a hiccup, but more... laugh-y? "Oh."

"Heh, heh, heh."

An odd little fellow came striding up to Otogi. Should they have known each other-? Maybe, maybe not. Probably? He was pretty strange, and Yugi did know a lot of strange people. But for now, Between the green hair, greener jacket, and yellow glasses, all Otogi could conclude was that he had disastrous fashion sense.

"Guess you've been chosen by the queen!" the newcomer said, and then did the weird non-laugh again. In his hands was some kind of... jar? And forceps? Overall, Otogi had a very bad idea regarding where this was going, but figured it'd be worse if he _moved._ "I mean, I was hoping I'd get Kajiki. Or Jounouchi. Or someone I actually knew. But your face was pretty good, too! Heh, heh."

"Insector!" Bakura snapped from across the shop. His voice had a distinct _edge _to it, one that Otogi had heard one time too many. But with the spider-vs-jar action about to go down, it wasn't like he dared to turn around and look. If that thing was going to run up the dress and/or Otogi's arm, he definitely wanted to know about it as early as possible. "You get that beast out of my shop! Or I will end you!" Then, in a much less _edge_ voice: "I mean it! I'm going to call... someone! I mean, I was! I mean, should I?!"

_"Someone!"_ Kaiba scoffed. Going off the distance, he was somewhere far away from the spider. "Some manager you are!"

"Wow, those people are charming." Jerking one thumb over his shoulder, the 'Insector' stooped and- just like that, the spider was in the jar. All done with one hand! The lid must have been hinged, Otogi guessed - it flew down as soon as the jar was righted, trapping the arachnid inside with a rather satisfying _click_. Not a single leg, feeler, or mouthpiece stuck out of the jar, either; the spider was one hundred percent contained, which given how leggy it was, was pretty incredible. "Isn't it funny how stressed everyone gets over a little mouse? Spider, I mean. It's a mouse spider."

_'Little?' Why, you little-! _

Kajiki let out a low whistle. "Nicely done, Haga. But... Y'know he banished you last time, right? How'd you even get back here?"

"Gee. I guess I just forgot about his magic bullshit?" Haga grinned, snatching the long black dress away from Otogi. "This is trash now, since it's laid all those eggs in there. Guess I'll be taking it! Ruined stock and all. This will make a great habitat for my _Tineola bisselliella. _I mean, clothes moths."

Okay, he was just showing off at this point. Kajiki growled in a rather Kaiba-like fashion, but he seemed to have to stand down on this - and with a thirty-dollar price tag, no less! Haga wrapped the thing around his neck like some sort of bizarre scarf with a weird kind of finesse, careful not to disturb the web. He even took a few cautionary steps away from the burly staff member while he was at it. Either this 'Insector' guy was a natural, or he'd been doing this stuff for a long time.

Probably the latter, Otogi decided, toying with the empty hanger that once held a dress. He was pretty sure he'd heard a few tales regarding this guy. After all - there weren't too many guys named _Haga _who were into _bugs_. Or spiders, which as far as Otogi was concerned, were bugs too. Anything with more than four legs: bug.

At any rate - didn't this 'Insector' or whoever destroy Exodia? As in, _the _most overpowered thing in Duel Monsters that wasn't either in Kaiba's hands or an Egyptian deity? Now, that sounded impressive. Not that Otogi was about to show it; the last thing he wanted was for Haga to take the spider out and start showing off his spider-related tricks. But he _did _want to talk.

Alone, preferably. "Er, Kajiki. Didn't Bakura say he was calling someone-? Maybe you should tell him we fixed it. Well, Insector did."

Haga bowed low, but he was smirking. Cocky little thing. Otogi bit back a putdown on the grounds of the whole negotiation thing. "You should tell him to be grateful. And give me the dress."

"Wait, he's still calling- _shit!_" Kajiki jogged away to assist with Not Doing That, and in the distance, Kaiba sneered at him, having done absolutely nothing to help throughout any of this whole affair.

_Good._

Otogi resisted the urge to look for the cameras; shouldn't matter, so long as he kept his voice low. With everyone out in the front area of the shop, nobody would be watching the screens with the camera footage in the back room. A perfect opportunity, then. "Listen, that spider's mine. I found it."

Haga's smirk went very wide. "You want it? And why should you have it? Your face was white as a silkwo-"

"It was not!"

The smirk continued to widen.

"Okay, a little." Otogi shook his head, and sighed. Pretended to be much more fed up than he really was. "Like I said, I found it. Like _you _said, it chose me. So it's mine." Then, in a far lower voice: "You do know who I am, right?"

Haga adjusted his glasses, which was rather theatrical of him. "Of course not. You're a nobody. And this spider is _beautiful. _She's heavenly." He cradled the jar, then shook it at Otogi, then cradled it some more; the spider scrabbled for balance inside. The lid lifted slightly; Otogi had to flinch, and that of course mad the good 'Insector' smirk all the more. "She'd be a waste on a nobody like you. You don't have any respect for the arachnid kingdom. Or... I don't think I've even seen you duel, have I?"

"Right." Well, his blood totally didn't boil at that or anything. But he didn't have time to argue the point. Barely had time to get away with this, in all honesty. Anymore time wasted, and - _just get on with it already!_ "Look, I really want that spider," Otogi breathed - no, begged. Begging might work on someone with such a massive ego as a guy calling himself an 'Insector'. "I only froze because it, I mean she, was like-" _what the hell did he say about it _"-so beautiful. Heavenly."

Haga narrowed his eyes at this. "Oh, flattery isn't going to work." But Otogi could see it working, in how the jar was held just a bit further from his body. If only he had more time-! "You're not begging nearly enough, for one thing."

Not begging enough! What a piece of work. But insulting him might result in a very much not-in-the-jar spider, and Haga was way too close to Otogi at the moment. "I don't have the time," he shot back. It was hard to keep his utter frustration out of it, but he had to try. "Just hand over the spider. Arachnid. Whatever. _In the jar._"

"And what's in it for me, huh?" The smirk was back, and they were surely running out of time. Even Kaiba, irritated as he was, was starting to pay a little attention to the whispering going on over the spider. If this offer didn't work, nothing would. But maybe Haga knew that, too. Well, surely he did. He couldn't be that stupid, despite how stupid he looked. He had to want some advantage out of all this - and had to think Otogi could give it to him, or he wouldn't even be listening. He knew Haga's type well.

So the opportunity was there. The moment, and the spider, was his to take.

If Otogi could just come up with the right words.

* * *

The spider was enormous, and Otogi was quite sure Kaiba's purchase was deliberate. It didn't even fit on the counter, a great beast of minky and stuffing. "I don't need the staff discount," he sneered, and even Bakura's glassy smile faltered under the acidic tone. "Do you even have _any _security on that computer system of yours? I'd never enter my personal details into that. What even is it, Windows... XP? At best?"

Bakura nodded, sagely, like whatever Kaiba was going on about made complete and utter sense to him. "Right here, Otogi. Under children's and toys... No, not there." He cancelled which ever button Otogi had gone and pushed. "No, try again. Children's and toys."

Kaiba tapped his foot and glared, rather obviously holding back on a jeer. Of course he would enjoy watching his fellow worker fail. For his part, Otogi pretended that the icon was supremely difficult to find, despite the fact that a teddy bear amongst six pictures of clothes was dead obvious - anything to make Bakura think he was less than capable at this. "Oh, I don't see it."

"It's not a toy," Kaiba barked. "Mokuba's much too old for those."

"Maybe I have a disorder that means I can't do symbols," Otogi pouted. "But I'm sure with training, we could get over it, right?"

"Just here- this one. See?" And apparently to avoid conflict Kaiba, the good manager leaned over and pressed the kiddie button. "Okay, now you put in... did you read the label?"

The tag was on the spider's head; an ugly, garish orange bit of cardboard. Otogi made a big show of checking each of the legs/feelers/fangs, until eventually he ran out of appendages and had to read out the number. "Zero one dollars?"

Bakura actually rolled his eyes a bit, and Kaiba snorted. Ah, he was definitely laying it on too thick. With a flourish, he flipped the tag the right way up. "Ten dollars!"

"So it would seem." Kaiba nodded to the little EFTPOS machine. "Make it quick. I have a meeting to attend. And I don't do paypass, that would be highly insecure. This isn't one of my systems either, is it? Just a basic EFTPOS?"

Otogi's finger hesitated over the numbers. Ten dollars. Could he stuff that up without getting potentially ejected from the shop altogether? No, no he couldn't. Dammit. He punched the numbers in, and definitely didn't look at the pin number for Kaiba's credit card or anything like that. (Kaiba glared at him. Oops.) "So, did you want a recei-"

Kaiba had already swept out of the Graceful Charity, as though he were a summer breeze that, considering the season, never really should have been there in the first place.

"And that's how the till works." Bakura smiled up at him. Maddening. "It's not that bad, see? You won't need Jounouchi for it."

Did he mean that smile? Were they friends now? Otogi smiled back, and was quite sure _he_ at least didn't mean it. "Ah, I'm not sure... I could do with some training. It's my first day."

Bakura stared into space, utterly unconvinced. Likely back to the whole 'you work at a game shop' thing. _Jerk. _It wasn't like Otogi had exactly planned on the manager being, well, someone who both knew him and was hellbent on always doing The Right Thing. Nothing was going to bribe Bakura; you could only talk at him a whole lot and hope for the best.

_Or, perhaps..._

"So. You work here every day?" Otogi wondered out loud. The silence unnerved him, as always, and with Kajiki trying to right the last of the broken furniture, he was presumably stuck with Bakura until Jounouchi showed up to clock in. Besides, it wasn't like he'd gotten much in the way of answers just yet. Or possibly _ever_, but he could at least try to get them a little sooner.

"Ah, I do my best. But even I need a break, so there's another manager on Mondays, Saturdays, and Sundays." Bakura tilted his head a little. "It'd be bad if I just stopped studying over the summer break, right?"

Otogi swallowed, and tried not to think about studying too much. He had much more important things to worry about than school, anyway. He glanced towards the door, then grinned and shrugged. "Yeah, absolutely. Not that I really have to study, of course, because I... ah?"

He trailed off there, since Bakura was squinting. Right at the door, no less; taking in the banner flattened on the road, and the sign on the cart, and what Otogi had actually been staring at. Shit, he was _thinking_. Suspecting, possibly. _'Looking for Jounouchi-?' _, and Otogi would definitely have to make a run for his stupid mistake. Sharp guy, outsmarted thoroughly, outsmarted as usual. He hoped he wasn't glaring too hard at Bakura when the manager looked back; assessing Otogi carefully with one of his (famous by this point?) empty silences.

"I hope you didn't do anything stupid," he said, so quietly that only Otogi could hear it. _Ah, shit. _

"Like what?" Otogi was able to say that, too, since he was completely innocent. He hadn't _done _anything, technically. Actually, he just hadn't done anything. He'd just been thinking about doing something. So Bakura definitely didn't have a leg to stand on here.

Did he?

Bakura blinked a few times, apparently needing to think about what exactly Otogi had done wrong. Maybe he was trying to force a confession with that silence of his, who knew. "I mean... Did you leave that banner rolling around out there?"

Otogi did his best not to crumple in complete and utter relief. A bit of a lean into a shelf, that was all. Thankfully, a very _secure _shelf. "Of course not. It was out there when I got here. I thought Kajiki went and threw it at a cupboard, or cabinet, or whatever. He did throw a flag at something." He sighed. "Guess he threw the other one?"

Were there two banners? Probably. He didn't quite recall, it didn't particularly matter.

"Well, maybe you should bring that banner in here." Bakura tilted his head. "Before it's used for... I mean, you should probably break up the fight. They always insist on it, but since Jounouchi's already running late-"

"What?" The name made Otogi stand up a little straighter. _Jounouchi?_ Maybe he'd just had a stroke of luck. Possibly Jounouchi-level luck. Now, if he could just come up with a plan to go along with it-? "I mean, I'll definitely sort it out," he said.

Trying not to grin, and ignoring whatever his manager had to say, he turned away, hurrying towards the banner, the road, and whatever was left of the Black Clown.


End file.
